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Western Bulldogs supporters are painting the town red, white and blue ahead of Saturday’s AFL Grand Final clash against Melbourne Football Club.
Fans are hoping the Dogs can add to their first premiership victory in 1954 against Melbourne and 2016 win against the Sydney Swans.
Marianne Wong, the wife of Footscray’s late iconic restaurateur Jimmy Wong, has decorated the window of their Barkly Street institution with Bulldogs paraphernalia.
“They’re No. 1,“ she said.
“Jimmy is a Bulldog, all the time, and they have a very, very close connection to Jimmy.
“Every week, players, management, every week [they came to the restaurant].
“Jimmy is famous and he is a good person and the food is very good, if it’s not No. 1.
“They love Jimmy, they love Jimmy’s food.
“They’re here sometimes twice of week, a big crowd of them.
“They’re very supportive of Jimmy, they love Jimmy and they love his food, full stop.
“I’m so, so, so excited about it.
“I’m a Bulldogs supporter and I love them and all my family are Bulldogs supporters and I’m so, so, so excited about them.
“Win or lose, I’m so excited about them.“
Newport’s Craig Moloney loves the Bulldogs so much he named his son Murphy after star player Robert Murphy.
Over the weekend, the family painted his house in the club’s tricolour.
“We were having a baby and then my wife had said, if it’s a boy you can name it whatever your want but she was coming from a family of four girls so she thought 100 per cent that she was having a girl so she thought, well, it doesn’t matter what you say anyway because it’s not going to turn out to be a boy,“ Moloney said.
“We were either going to call him Griffen, which was after Ryan Griffen, or Murphy after Robert Murphy.
“She went, nah, you’re not calling him Griffen because he’s going to be called Griff or things like that when he gets older in life: I’ll let you call him Murphy.“
Robert Murphy now calls Mr Moloney’s son, age 10, Robert Murphy Junior.
Mr Moloney recounts a “classic“ comment his son recently made.
“He actually said to me, ’Dad, I don’t really believe in God but I’m just letting you know I went to my bedroom, I put a footy in my hand and I prayed that we won’.“
Perth’s Optus Stadium will host the Grand Final on Saturday, with a start time of 5.15pm AWST and 7.15pm AEST.
